I don’t agree that people with mental illness should be legally allowed to access euthanasia and assisted suicide. This is hugely worrying, given the often episodic and transient nature of severe episodes of mental illness. People at their lowest point may well be suicidal and recover from this feeling once they receive effective and compassionate treatment. There is very legitimate concern that any so-called ‘safeguards’ brought in for these people will be whittled down through court action. Together, as a society, we need to make sure that people who suffer from these conditions have hope, instead of death, as an option when they're struggling most. I call on the QLD Parliament to please reject euthanasia and assisted suicide laws that would allow doctors to legally assist vulnerable and distressed people to die.

It's time we had a conversation about end-of-life care in Queensland. We need to talk about palliative care and how it can be improved for all Queenslanders. I believe that euthanasia is not the answer to end-of-life care. I support palliative care for all. Palliative care provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms, as well as emotional, social and spiritual support for both patients and their loved ones. It also offers hope by improving quality of life in the face of serious illness. Euthanasia does not provide any of these things: it only brings death – never hope! In fact, many people who choose euthanasia can find themselves feeling abandoned at a time when they need help most. I call on the QLD Parliament to please reject euthanasia and assisted suicide laws that would allow doctors to legally assist vulnerable people to die.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has raised concerns about several cases in Canada of people living in care feeling pressured to seek assistance in what is virtually suicide. Queensland organisations that support people living with disability have already raised concerns about inadequate government support for advocacy services in dealing with complex health systems. There is a need for more care and stronger advocacy, not less, for these people. Ongoing reforms to the NDIS have been slow and painful for many people living with disability, leaving significant gaps in their care. Until these are resolved, it is premature to view euthanasia as a 'choice' when the alternative is often homelessness or lack of care. I believe we must do better by our most vulnerable citizens – those who cannot speak up or advocate on their own behalf – we must provide them hope and opportunity so they can live full lives as valued members of society, contributing fully to their communities and economies without fear of discrimination or exclusion based on their disability status. It's time we show them what it means when we say "no to euthanasia". Let's give them hope! I call on the QLD Parliament to strongly reject euthanasia and assisted suicide laws that would allow doctors to legally assist vulnerable people to die.

I call on the QLD Parliament to please reject euthanasia and assisted suicide laws that would allow doctors to legally assist vulnerable people to die. Passing these laws is an irresponsible decision for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders communities, especially in rural and regional areas where they are already under-represented at every stage of the health system. We need to ensure that all Indigenous Queenslanders have access to comprehensive palliative care before we offer euthanasia as an alternative. Otherwise, it’s just premature and cruel – and an insult to their culture. I ask the Queensland Parliament to reconsider their position on euthanasia and assisted suicide legislation – to bring hope and care, not death.

I call on the QLD Parliament to please reject euthanasia and assisted suicide laws that would allow doctors to legally assist vulnerable people to die. Elder abuse is very real and involves the systematic neglect and emotional abuse of an elderly relative, and often the theft of money and property. Victims are often deliberately made to feel like a burden on their families, and report feeling their lives are worthless and devoid of joy. A core component of elder abuse is 'inheritance impatience' where family members deny care in order to hasten death in order to acquire their inheritance early. In a system woefully inefficient at detecting and protecting against elder abuse, euthanasia could not be a more dangerous addition to this mix. In Oregon where euthanasia is legal, many older people nominated feeling like a burden to their family as a reason for pursuing euthanasia. No one should ever feel this way, especially at the end of their lives.

Those advocating for euthanasia and assisted suicide say euthanasia is a choice. There is NO choice when there is no palliative care. Palliative care is unavailable to many people in the state. In Queensland, palliative care services are inadequate in remote, regional and rural areas and there is no clear pathway for access to end-of-life care. I deserve better from my government – it's time for you to provide access to high quality palliative-care services so that every Queenslander has the opportunity of 'choice'. I call on the QLD Parliament to please reject euthanasia and assisted suicide laws that would allow doctors to legally assist vulnerable people to die.

I call on the QLD Parliament to please reject euthanasia and assisted suicide laws that would allow doctors to legally assist vulnerable people to die. Palliative care works and eliminates the need for euthanasia as people can live and pass away comfortably, pain free, having their emotional and physical needs met with compassionate support. Palliative care is a form of care that commences at the point of terminal diagnosis and continues to ensure a person lives a pain free and meaningful life until the natural end of their life. It is urgent that more funding is made available for state-wide palliative care services that are proven to work. Palliative Care Queensland estimates the required annual funding to meet this target would be approximately an additional $275 million. The government needs to act to boost and support palliative care services before introducing radical changes to end-of-life care options. Euthanasia is a radical, cruel and unnecessary move in the wrong direction for end-of-life care.

I call on the QLD Parliament to please reject euthanasia and assisted suicide laws that would allow doctors to legally assist vulnerable people to die prematurely. Since the introduction of euthanasia in The Netherlands in 2002, despite assurances, the practice has expanded to include people who might otherwise live for many years. This includes people with diseases such as muscular dystrophy to younger people with dementia and even mentally ill young people. In Canada, a number of cases have moved through the courts to expand euthanasia access to people without terminal illness and with conditions that are usually managed through therapy and clinical care over the long term. ‘Safeguards’ introduced in legislating euthanasia are constantly whittled away in the interests of expanding access to the scheme based on a person's wishes, not sound medical reasoning. There is an alarming and deadly ‘logic’ to this. Once you say that a person may opt to end their life, regardless of the proven effectiveness of palliative care, then how can you logically deny that option to anyone facing a complicated medical diagnosis?

I call on the QLD Parliament to please reject euthanasia and assisted suicide laws that would allow doctors to legally assist vulnerable people to die. Euthanasia exposes vulnerable people to pressure to end their lives. We know abuse is rife in the aged care system – and so tragically, legal euthanasia may be viewed by vulnerable older people as their only ‘escape’ from that abuse. Moral pressure on elderly relatives by selfish families to end their lives is also very real, despite laws put in place to protect the assets of older Australians from their families. People in care who are abandoned by their families may feel euthanasia is the only solution to an alternative life spent alone and vulnerable at their frailest and most infirmed. In Oregon, where euthanasia is legal, many older people nominated that ‘feeling like a burden to their family’ was a reason for pursuing euthanasia. No one should ever feel this way, especially at the end of their lives. Euthanasia is a radical unnecessary move in the wrong direction for end-of-life care. Please vote NO to those dangerous laws.

I call on the QLD Parliament to please reject euthanasia and assisted suicide laws that would allow doctors to legally assist vulnerable people to die. Even though attempts have been made to protect people with mental illness from accessing assisted suicide, it’s alarming that courts around the world have granted access to euthanasia to people seeking to end their life because of their mental illness. • The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that every 40 seconds someone commits suicide somewhere in the world. • In Australia alone there were 3,046 suicides in 2018 – an increase of 13% from 2009 figures. • The Queensland government has a target for cutting the suicide rate by 50% by 2026. And yet here they are, considering extreme new euthanasia and assisted suicide laws. It’s not just about preventing death by suicide, but also NOT legalising it. Help protect those most vulnerable among us from being targeted for euthanasia because they have mental health issues or disabilities. Also, during COVID-19, the high priority was on protecting the elderly and vulnerable at this critical time. But euthanasia is not protection for them. Show you care by voting NO to these dangerous laws.

I’m writing to ask you to vote no to euthanasia and assisted suicide laws. Elder abuse and 'inheritance impatience' are real, underreported, and will be further enabled by euthanasia laws. Queenslanders with disability are particularly vulnerable to pressure, neglect, and abuse regardless of 'safeguards’. I call on the QLD Parliament to please reject euthanasia and assisted suicide laws that would allow doctors to legally assist vulnerable people to die.

I call on the QLD Parliament to please reject euthanasia and assisted suicide laws that would allow doctors to legally assist vulnerable people to die. There is no guarantee of ‘safeguards’ for anyone in a country that introduces euthanasia. A 2011 study published by the Current Oncology states: “In all jurisdictions, laws and safeguards were put in place to prevent abuse and misuse of euthanasia. “There is evidence however that these laws and safeguards are regularly ignored and transgressed in all the jurisdictions and that transgressions are not prosecuted. For example, about 900 people annually are administered lethal substances without having given explicit consent, and in one jurisdiction, almost 50% of cases of euthanasia are not reported. “Although the initial intent was to limit euthanasia and assisted suicide to a last-resort option for an exceedingly small number of terminally ill people, same jurisdictions now extend the practice to newborns, children, and people with dementia. Legalising euthanasia and assisted suicide therefore places many people at risk, affects the values of society over time, and does not provide controls and safeguards.” In the past few years, the lives of these people, young and old, were taken in Belgium through euthanasia: • 3 children • 77 people suffering from mental health issues • 173 people with no physical suffering but afflicted by conditions such as addiction, loneliness and despair. In the first two years of legalised euthanasia in Quebec, 62 deaths (5.6% of all euthanasia deaths) were deemed by the Commission on End-of-Life Care to have been of abuse by the doctor who prescribed and administered the lethal injection, but the Commission did not recommend any for prosecution. Euthanasia is a radical unnecessary move in the wrong direction for end-of-life care. Please vote NO to the laws.

I ask the Queensland Parliament to reconsider their position on euthanasia and assisted suicide legislation. Euthanasia has been tried overseas and failed, leading to horrific outcomes for patients, their families and society as a whole. There is very legitimate concern that any so-called ‘protections’ brought in for vulnerable people will be whittled down through court action as they have overseas on too many occasions. lt is not in anyone's interest to consider some lives more valuable and worthy of care than others. Those advocating for euthanasia claim that in some instances death is preferable to continuing care. This is an outrageous perversion of everything we as citizens should expect from health care. In Victoria, following the introduction of euthanasia, no substantial increase to palliative care funding followed, reinforcing a terrible choice for many between a life without adequate care and pain management, and prematurely ending their own life. This is a gross distortion of any idea of 'choice’. If the Queensland Parliament proceeds with this legislation, then it will be taking us down a path that leads to loss of hope for many people – and more mental health problems for both patients and medical professionals. I call on the QLD Parliament to strongly reject euthanasia and assisted suicide laws that would allow doctors to legally assist vulnerable people to die prematurely.

I call on the QLD Parliament to please reject euthanasia and assisted suicide laws that would allow doctors to legally assist vulnerable people to die. The Australian Medical Association Queensland is on record opposing euthanasia. In a 2019 statement their President, Dilip Dhupelia said, “I urge the State Government to address the drastic underfunding of palliative care so that Queenslanders can have the reassurance of comfort and dignity – a ‘good death’ – when they die.” This is in the context of the current disproportionate level of focus on voluntary assisted suicide. Many doctors have flagged concerns that euthanasia violates their oath to cause no harm to their patients, and they have indicated they will refuse to participate in order to care for their patients who trust them to follow through on that professional oath. Euthanasia presents critical problems for faith-based aged care services at a time of soaring demand for places in residential aged care and home care packages. In 2017, the first doctor in The Netherlands faced criminal charges over malpractice in the administration of euthanasia. This is a chilling reminder that our health system is designed to fundamentally protect life and is ill-equipped to define a role for ending it. In 2019, the Queensland Government allocated just $17 million to palliative care services, while Western Australia allocated $224 million. Surely if the integrity of end-of-life care really mattered, then reinforcing the overstretched and inadequate palliative care system would be completed long before the introduction of such a radical step as euthanasia? A tiny percentage of Queenslanders will access euthanasia as compared to the 100% of Queenslanders who will need palliative care. These priorities are wrong. So please vote NO to the euthanasia and assisted suicide laws that would allow doctors to legally assist vulnerable people to die.